Professional networking and job searching have long relied on traditional resumes and backdoor reference checks. While technology has transformed many aspects of hiring, the process of verifying a candidate’s experience remains largely unchanged. Gerald Gordon, CTO of Reference Me, is tackling this challenge head-on by creating a platform that brings transparency and efficiency to professional verification while helping qualified candidates showcase their proven track record.
Discovering a Passion for Technology
Growing up in New York City with five siblings and a single mother, Gerald discovered his passion for technology early on. “At a very early age I had a knack for technology and engineering even 30 years ago. It wasn’t something that we talked about in the areas where I grew up in Brooklyn, Manhattan and The Bronx,” he recalls. Despite facing challenges including multiple moves and forced apartment relocations, Gerald’s drive for engineering remained constant. This determination led him to pursue higher education, earning three degrees along the way. After completing his mechanical engineering degree at Florida International University, a chance encounter with a Xerox recruiter changed his trajectory. I know now that it was by the Grace of God that “I just bumped into this person. After talking with him for about two or three minutes, he said, ‘I really think that you’ll do really well in our program,'” Gerald shares.
Patents and Innovation at Xerox
At Xerox, Gerald quickly proved his worth, leading a team of 15-21 people straight out of college. His innovative thinking led to several patents, including a groundbreaking software patent for security systems. “My first patent was called opacity desktop with depth perception. You could think about this as today when you put on VR glasses – I thought about this 20 years ago,” he explains. Another notable patent solved a practical problem for Xerox’s high-end printers. “We would ship these machines to facilities where administrative assistants didn’t have technical knowledge to set up the machine,” Gerald notes. His solution? “I came up with this idea of why don’t we send them paper with codes on it. When you scan this paper it would automatically program the machine.”
Advancing Innovation in Healthcare and Finance
After 13 years at Xerox, Gerald moved south to Charlotte, joining Premier Healthcare. There, he applied his engineering expertise to life-saving technology. “We were building an application called ‘safety surveiller’. Anytime a doctor or nurse draws blood, if there was an element that could be contagious, we would automatically send notifications to all doctors,” he explains. His career then shifted to web technology and machine learning at Red Ventures, before joining Credit Karma as a director of software engineering “Working at that scale is very different than traditional engineering. We have 100 million members, 45 million people coming to the site every month,” Gerald shares. His team developed sophisticated fraud prevention systems for Credit Karma’s money product, using machine learning.
Reference Me: Transforming Professional Reference Verification
Now, alongside his wife, Gerald leads Reference Me, a platform revolutionizing how professionals validate their experience. “Instead of it being a backdoor process where recruiters just talk to people in your network, we wanted to make it visible so that on your resume, there’ll be a QR code that will link back to all your references,” he explains. The platform has evolved beyond reference checking. “People need more than just references. They need help with interviews, access to recruiters, access to a strong network of executives, help with optimizing LinkedIn profiles and Interview preparation” Gerald notes. This led to their Accelerated Career Transformational Program, combining AI interviewing with reference collection and profile improvements helps our clients get hired between 30 and 90days.
Gerald sees Reference Me addressing a critical gap in hiring. “A knowledge worker, someone who’s skilled at what they’re doing, will have no problem sharing their references because they know they’ve done excellent work,” he states. The platform aims to help companies dive deeper into candidates’ abilities before interviews. Beyond business success, Gerald emphasizes the importance of purpose: “All of us have gifts inside of us that are designed to help people. If you’re not helping people then you’re not really in business.”
To connect with Gerald Gordon or learn more about transforming your hiring process through verified references and the Accelerated Career Transformation Program find him on LinkedIn or explore Reference Me’s innovative platform at referenceme.ai.
